DC Previews Picks: March 2019

Above-the-Board Recommendation:

Fortune and Glory:  A True Hollywood Story

Yes, this is the third edition of this particular comic after it was originally published by Oni, and reprinted by Marvel in a colorized hardcover edition.  It’s still one of the best things Bendis has ever done and deserving of a spot in everyone’s library even against all of the other stuff from the writer in these solicitations (of which there is a lot).  “Fortune and Glory” is the writer’s story of his time in the Hollywood machine after one of his early projects, “Goldfish,” is optioned and he experiences the fun of turning it into a screenplay and meeting with all of the execs who want to turn it into a film.  Or not. While there’s plenty of stuff about how a lot of these execs are full of hot air or are desperately trying to cover up their own vapidness, what sets this story apart is how we get to see the good side of the experience as well. It’s not a cautionary story so much as an adventure with its successes and failures.  It’s also something I wound up re-reading just now after picking it up to refresh my memory about it, so consider that too.

The Batman Who Laughs:  The Grim Knight #1:  Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV team up with artist Eduardo Risso for this one shot about the latest “Dark Batman” who was introduced in the recent miniseries.  For those of you unaware, the Grim Knight is basically the answer to the question, “What if Batman was also the Punisher.” This one-shot is billed as offering up his secret origin.  Which Snyder gave away in part at the “Justice League” panel at Comic-Con. It involves Bruce Wayne picking up the gun that was used to kill his parents and shooting their murderer. I’ve got a pretty good idea about how the story is going to go from there, and Tynion’s presence doesn’t give me faith that there will be any surprises.  Still, this story sounds right up Risso’s alley and it sounds like something that will make a nice extra in the forthcoming “The Batman Who Laughs” collection. Because that’s where DC’s going to reprint this, right?

Detective Comics #1000:  We all knew this series was going to get here after DC reverted it to its legacy numbering.  The company is celebrating it second #1000 issue in much the same way as its first with a whole host of famous creators contributing to the issue.  Bendis, Scott Snyder, Tom King, Paul Dini, Geoff Johns, Dennis O’Neil, Christopher Priest, Warren Ellis and more contribute on the writer’s side while Neal Adams, Jim Lee, Greg Capullo, Dustin Nguyen, Kelley Jones, Joelle Jones, Alex Maleev, Steve Epting and more handle artistic chores.  This issue will also further Peter Tomasi and Doug Mahnke’s, the current creative team, story which introduces the comics version of the Arkham Knight from the videogame of the same name.

Second Coming #1:  Mark Russell has made a name for himself at DC by taking familiar cartoon characters such as “The Flintstones” and “Snagglepuss” and using them as a vehicle to tackle current issues.  With this new series it looks like he’s hitting things a bit more on the nose as it involves Jesus Christ returning to Earth to find out what has become of his gospel and dealing with the ramifications of that.  He’s doing this while also being roommates with the world’s actual favorite savior Sun-Man, the Last Son of Krispex. Real Jesus meets Super Jesus, in other words. This strikes me as the kind of thing that’s either going to be genius or a giant mess… if it actually sees publication that is.  It wouldn’t surprise me if the series is cancelled before the first issue hit stands after someone at Warner Bros. finds out that they’re publishing a comic book starring Jesus. After all, we all saw how things went over with Batpenis-gate…

Catwoman vol. 1:  Copycats:  Now you can explore the fallout from the Bat-wedding that didn’t happen from two perspectives.  You’ve got Batman’s over in his titular series and Catwoman’s in hers. At least, I hope there’s going to be some discussion of why she didn’t want to go through with the wedding.  The solicitation text here name-checks the event but spends most of its time playing up the threat of an imposter who’s committing crimes in Selina’s name. Joelle Jones writes and illustrates most of this new series, with Fernando Blanco providing art for an issue or two, and while I like her style I hope that the aftermath of the wedding is addressed since it’s a crucial part of the character’s life at this point.

The Kamandi Challenge:  So I skipped picking up the hardcover collection of this maxiseries which featured a new creative team with each issue having to resolve the “impossible” cliffhanger set up by the previous one.  Now they’ve knocked $15 off the hardcover price of $40 for this softcover edition and that sounds like just the right amount to get me to pick it up.

Scarlet vol. 1:  Actually vol. 3 since the solicitation text indicates that this is the collected edition of the new miniseries published by DC.  The first volume of the title character’s struggle to overturn and fix our broken society was great. The second could’ve been great had it been published in a timely fashion and didn’t end on a cliffhanger which resolved nothing.  This third volume… will either earn the series a permanent spot on my shelf or see it packed away with all the other stuff I’m planning to sell to Book Off.